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New Youth Project Launches in Eastern DRC

November 28, 2018

New Youth Project Launches in Eastern DRC

Guests at the event celebrating the launch of the USAID/DRC Integrated Youth Development Activity in Bukavu.

The USAID/DRC Integrated Youth Development Activity (IYDA), a project in the Democratic Republic of Congo for which EDC is the lead implementer, was officially launched on November 20 with an event in the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu. Special guests from the Congolese Ministries of Youth, Social Affairs, and Education as well as USAID, IYDA partners, and local communities gathered to celebrate this new project, which is designed to deliver positive learning experiences to youth. Governor Marcellin Cishambo Ruhoya of South Kivu and USAID/DRC Mission Director Paul Sabatine participated in the event.

IYDA will offer accelerated learning and vocational training programs linked to employment skills and opportunities to build youth’s resilience to conflict and violence. The project expects to provide basic education for more than 12,000 youth and 790 teachers, facilitators, and administrators and to support over 100 accelerated learning programs and 50 vocational training centers.

“EDC is proud to work with the Ministries, USAID, and our education partners to help Congolese youth become more resilient to conflict by providing them with access to relevant training and opportunities to be engaged socially and economically,” says Osseni Amadou, IYDA chief of party.

IYDA is funded by USAID, with EDC as the lead implementer. Other partners include Catholic Relief Services, FHI360, Souktel, the Congolese government, private sector partners, and local nonformal education providers.